Since living in the Lower Clarence Valley I have come to realize that native wildlife is normal part of life here. Often in the evenings I am able to sit and enjoy the luxury of silence. Silence that I have gradually noticed is a backdrop to the sound of our local Boobook Owl, a possum who is obviously keen to find a new mate and the wonderful sounds of the Laughing Kookaburras and the many other birds off in the distant trees.

I am fortunate enough to not only hear these beautiful guys
each day, but I also have them regularly fly into our garden for mid morning,
afternoon or evening snacks. This morning I was getting ready to take my lovely
little doggie for his morning walk, I got to the front gate as a beautiful
adult kookaburra flew down over my shoulder and snatched a 5cm warm out the
grass and consumed it before my eyes. She looked very carefully at me until she
completed her breakfast, eyed the tree across the road and flew off.

You may be thinking ‘how did I know she was a female’ – She looked just like this lovely one that I ‘snapped’ this afternoon. You can see from the photo that this Laughing Kookaburra has a brown patterned rump, and I recently learned that the male has a blue patterned rump. Such lovely birds, I feel great delight whenever I see them.

What do you think of these birds? Do you have Kookaburras or Kingfishers in your neighbourhood? Let me know 🙂